Society

Monday

Andrew Shirley

Fine wine overtakes classic cars as number one investment of passion

‘Investments of passion,’ those objects of desire that are nice to own but will also hopefully rise in value. When I’m editing The Wealth Report, Knight Frank’s annual publication examining wealth distribution, the threats and opportunities for wealth creators, prime property markets and commercial real estate investments, ‘investments of passion’ is the section I most enjoy. My own advice is buy what you love and if it goes up in value so much the better, but some people do look at these things from an investment perspective. So, if that’s your thing, what should you be looking at? Well, according to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII) which tracks

Sunday

James Delingpole James Delingpole

What would we do without nutcases like Steve Backshall

Down the Mighty River with Steve Backshall (BBC2) was perfect Sunday-night TV — one of the most enjoyable adventure travelogues I’ve watched in ages. So I was quite surprised to see it reviewed lukewarmly by another critic. One of the critic’s objections was that the scene where Backshall spots a bird of paradise through his binoculars by the Baliem river in Papua New Guinea was a bit crap. Why couldn’t we have seen it in loving close-up detail, as you would on a David Attenborough? But this is precisely what I loved about the documentary. It had a roughness, an unpredictability, a spontaneity that you rarely find on TV any

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

The great ‘adventure story’ of British Catholicism

Roy Hattersley would never have been born had it not been that his mother ran away with the parish priest who instructed her in the Catholic faith before her marriage to a collier — the priest conducted the wedding; a fortnight later they eloped. This deplorable episode had one happy consequence: the birth of Roy, who never knew the reason for his father’s ease with Latin until after he died. So Roy is in a way a small part of his latest book, The Catholics, a history of the church and its people in Britain since the Reformation. He is an atheist but says, ‘Religion in general — belief in

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Europe’s elite rightly feel extinction breathing down their necks

Allahu Akbar! Greetings from Samsun, where Turkish protestors — their eyeballs spinning in orgasmic Islamic rage — tried to set fire to the Dutch flag while chanting the usual ‘Allah’s dead good’ stuff. They used cigarette lighters and some lighter fuel and up it went — and was then jubilantly trampled on by the inflamed, howling masses. Except that it wasn’t the Dutch flag — they had got hold of the French flag by mistake. I wonder if any of the similarly inflamed Turkish protestors in the Netherlands would have noticed? My guess is most of those demonstrating in Rotterdam had spent their entire lives in the Netherlands, but possibly

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Numbers 10 & 11 need to find a better way of working together

Philip Hammond should be sending George Osborne a case of the finest claret. For Osborne’s decision to accept the editorship of the Evening Standard, has distracted Westminster’s from  this week’s spectacular Budget reversal. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, the fallout from it will be felt for some time. Even Hammond’s Cabinet allies admit that ‘Of course, he’s damaged’ by the whole issue. But those in May’s circle are blunter. Pointing out the mistake was ‘staring you right in the face’ before he made it and that the National Insurance hike on the self-employed ‘was pushed back several times’ by Number 10. They predict that ‘his arrogance

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

White men grab the chairs

Tesco chairman John Allan provoked feminist fury by telling would-be non-exec directors, ‘If you’re a white male, tough: you’re an endangered species’ — then claimed he was really trying to make the opposite point, that ‘it’s a great time for women’. But to the contrary, this was a week in which tough white males grabbed the corporate prizes, while one high-flying woman from an oppressed minority was hounded out of her job. First, the blokes. HSBC announced, for the first time in its history and to the satisfaction of governance zealots, the appointment of an outside chairman. Incumbent Douglas Flint is to be succeeded by Mark Tucker, a former professional

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Too many Hoggs spoil it for Charlotte

Charlotte Hogg forgot to tell the Bank of England, of which she had been appointed deputy governor, that her brother Quintin is director of strategy at Barclays bank. She has had to resign. There is something strange about this story. After all, if the Bank of England did not know already that her brother held this position, its knowledge of the banking world it is supposed to supervise must be thin indeed. You can see why Miss Hogg might have assumed that those appointing her knew already, and so have given it no thought, rather as Tony Blair and David Cameron probably never thought to put in the Register of

Friday

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

St Patrick’s lesson for modern Britain

Happy St Patrick’s Day to the Irish, one and all. There are plenty of Brits who are a bit Irish, and the Irish government tries to include as honorary Irish, or would-be Irish, pretty well everyone else. Obviously, St Patrick himself wasn’t actually Irish, but a Brit, so thank you, Britain, and well done. The position of the Irish in Britain – and indeed the British in Ireland, proportionately as large – is one of those historic ambiguities which doesn’t really fit into any of the contemporary narratives about being in or out of things. Ireland, other than six counties, obviously isn’t part of the UK, but it’s not foreign

Helen Nugent

House prices now more than seven times income

There are many things that beggar belief. The enduring popularity of Mrs Brown’s Boys for one. A continued appetite for the songs of James Blunt. And the appointment of George Osborne as editor of the London Evening Standard. That last one is particularly hard to fathom. But then so is some other news out this morning: a typical home now costs more than seven times income. And I’m not talking about your luxury pads or property in the most desirable enclaves of the capital. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the typical property now costs 7.6 times average annual earnings of employees in England and Wales. This is

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

Prince William is just a chip off the Charles block

Generally, I am the last person to advocate modesty, sobriety or duty. But then, I have been supporting myself financially, with no assistance from any other source – spouse or State or taxpayer – since I was seventeen years old, and am free to do as I please. The same, sadly, cannot be said of Prince William, who swerved this year’s Commonwealth Day service in favour of dad-dancing, Jägerbombing and high-fiving party-girls on a four-day jolly with his mates in Verbier. And this after spending a surprisingly modest thirteen days performing his official duties this year.  It’s no secret that I was one of the late Princess of Wales’ most

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 16 March 2017

Mary Queen of Golf? The vote by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to admit women as members has reawakened speculation as to who was the first woman to play golf. —According to legend, Mary Queen of Scots played the game at St Andrews and coined the phrase ‘caddy’ when referring to the cadet who was carrying her clubs. Yet the evidence seems to relate to a charge made by her opponents that she played golf within days of the death of her husband, Lord Darnley. — A more realistic candidate appeared in the Caledonian Mercury, an Edinburgh newspaper, in 1738, which reported two women playing a game at Bruntsfield

Peter Jones

How to make the rich love tax

Now that Philip Hammond is promising yet more tax hikes, he might consider how Athens managed it. During the whole period of their direct democracy (which ended in 323 BC), the decision-making assembly was dominated by the poor. Their empire made Athens a wealthy place, and the poor ensured that wealth came their way, not that of the rich, in forms such as payment for jury service, rowing the triremes (which kept the empire together) and much more. Meanwhile, tax was paid only by the rich. The 300 top richest every year paid property taxes to, for example, construct and maintain Athens’ triremes and fund state festivals for public enjoyment. Neither

Taki

High life | 16 March 2017

At a chic dinner party last week, a friendly chow as big and black as a dog can be without being a bear sniffed a lady’s bum during pre-dinner drinks. I happened to be standing behind the lady and she raised her hand in anger. ‘It was Bessie the dog,’ I stammered. ‘What is wrong with you? I don’t do this no more.’ The lady in question is of a certain age, and the last one at the party I’d have goosed, but such are the joys of a bad reputation. Oh yes, before I forget, Marina, Princess of Savoy, who one month ago accused me of having locked her

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 16 March 2017

After circuiting Spain by train, I went east to Italy, stopping on the way at the French border town of Menton. Until the first world war, Menton hosted an English colony of 5,000 residents, two Anglican churches, a lending library and an English-language newspaper, the Monaco and Menton News. The dry, sheltered climate also attracted writers, artists, valetudinarians and the tubercular. Cannes is for living (so the saying went), Monte Carlo for gambling, and Menton for dying. The Yellow Book illustrator Aubrey Beardsley breathed his last at the Hotel Cosmopolitan and is buried in the atmospheric cemetery overlooking the town, and W.B. Yeats passed through the veil up the road

Melissa Kite

Real life | 16 March 2017

Someone has given the builder boyfriend an iPhone and things will never be the same. Until now, he has always had a ‘rubbish’ phone and I have always been able to get hold of him. Even though I have a blasted iPhone myself, at least one of us used to have a communications device that made and received calls. His ‘rubbish’ phone was some kind of ancient Nokia or first-generation Samsung — you know, the kind with no access to the internet. It worked. When I had a BlackBerry, we had as near perfect communication as any couple could wish for. He would call me, I would answer, or vice

Robin Oakley

The turf | 16 March 2017

If the championship for training jumpers went to a set of gallops rather than to a trainer it would not be Paul Nicholls’s Ditcheat precipice nor Nicky Henderson’s historic Seven Barrows facilities outside Lambourn or even Colin Tizzard’s Venn Farm on the Dorset border in the lead: the prize would go to the two stiff gallops, against the collar all the way, at Grange Hill Farm, Naunton, in the heart of the Cotswolds and just 12 miles from the Cheltenham course that has been the focus of the jumping world these past four days. The gallops are used by both Nigel Twiston-Davies, the proprietor of Grange Hill Farm, and by

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 16 March 2017

Tournament bridge players do not expect, or get, much in the way of luxury. I have played in some of the scuzziest venues imaginable (don’t get me started on Tromso’s Portaloos or Menton’s suffocating heat), so it is a rare treat that sponsor Simon Gillis’s Lederer Memorial Trophy is held at the super elegant RAC Club. The ten invited teams have to observe the strict dress code, which is a welcome change from some very grubby T-shirts! The scoring is IMPs and Board-a-Match, which means it is important (as in Matchpoints) to compare your spot with what may happen at the other table. This year Swedish World Champion Peter Bertheau

Simon Baron-Cohen

Diary – 16 March 2017

In the NHS clinic where I work, adults who suspect they may have Asperger syndrome wait almost a year for a diagnosis. The clinic takes referrals from all over Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (a population of 860,000), but we have to see all of them in the hours of a single full-time doctor. And the clinic is not given funds to run a follow-up support service once someone has been diagnosed. These individuals struggle to socialise, are neurologically different, and are overlooked because their disability is invisible. Many have experienced bullying in childhood, underemployment in adulthood and exploitation because of their social naivety. Many are made to feel inferior despite their

Raymond Keene

Oxford v Cambridge

The 135th Varsity Match hosted by London’s Royal Automobile Club last Saturday resulted in a narrow win for Oxford, who have reduced their overall deficit. The score is now 59 wins to Cambridge, 54 to Oxford. The brilliancy prize, judged by grandmasters Jon Speelman and Luke McShane and named in honour of Bob Wade OBE, was awarded to the Cambridge player Daniel Fernandez. When we join the position he is a piece down for very little compensation.   Gerlagh (University College, Oxford)- Fernandez (Queens College, Cambridge) See diagram 1   27 Ra6+ Much better is 27 Nb6 with the idea 27 … Rxc2 28 Nxd5+ Nxd5 29 Bxe4 Rc5 30